


Honeysuckle

by Tilltheendwilliwrite



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Venom (Movie 2018)
Genre: Angst, Canon-Typical Violence, Eventual Smut, F/M, Fluff, Magic, Venom eats people, not sure where this is going yet, please stand by, тэг заменён на Don't copy to another site
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-18
Updated: 2019-06-19
Packaged: 2019-09-22 09:44:28
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 9,716
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17057477
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tilltheendwilliwrite/pseuds/Tilltheendwilliwrite
Summary: On the eve of Annie’s wedding to another, Eddie and Venom come upon a woman in need of help. The scent of honeysuckle fills the air, along with sharp words from a sharp tongue. Just who is she? And why does it seem everywhere she goes, someone tries to kill her?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Chapter Warnings: Venom eats people. (Please be advised I have no idea where this is going.) Italics indicate mental conversations. Bold is clearly Venom. Movie spoilers below the cut.

## Chapter One

 

* * *

It became clear rather quickly that no, Eddie and Venom were not going to win Annie back when three months after their battle with Riot, Dan proposed and Annie accepted.

It mattered little that Eddie had been right about everything. Too much time had passed with too much anger between them for Annie to forgive him for all the mistakes of his past.

Now, standing in the back of the church, Eddie clapped for the new bride and groom even as his heart broke.

_**“Your heart is not broken. If it were, we could fix it.”** _

_“Really? I can't even inner monologue without you butting in?”_ It had taken some practice, but Eddie had learned to speak to Venom in his head as the symbiote did him rather than looking batshit nuts when he talked to himself in public.

_**“You are being dramatic. You are not broken, and we are hungry.”** _

_“You're always hungry.”_ Eddie waved to Annie, looking happy and glowing in her dress as she rushed by, hand in hand with Dan.

**_“We could eat him. Then we could have Annie back.”_ **

_“For the last time, we’re not eating Annie's husband! If you thought she was mad at me before she'd kill us after that.”_

_**“She could not kill us. We are invincible.”** _

_“No, we're not.”_

_**“Yes, we are.”** _

_“No, we're not!”_

_**“Yes, we are!”** _

_“No!”_

_**“Yes!”** _

“No!” Eddie shouted out loud, causing the people around him to stare at him in alarm. “Sorry,” he muttered, rapping his fist on his temple. “Damn voices, am I right?”

They all moved quickly away from him.

_“Happy now?”_

_**“Very.”** _

Eddie rolled his eyes upward, wondering if it would do any good to pray for patience.

**_“No.”_ **

_“You're a dick. What do you want to eat?”_

_**“Wade Wilson dipped in chocolate.”** _

_“No.”_

Not too long ago, they'd helped the red suit wearing psycho with a problem, six armed men kicking his ass, and Deadpool had been surprisingly fascinated and not at all concerned by Venom, eventually loping off three fingers to feed the symbiote when Venom ran out of heads. Since then, Venom had been disgustingly enamoured with getting another bite from the antihero.

 _“You can have pickles in chocolate, or if you promise not to bring Wade up again for the next two weeks, I'll get you those rats you like.”_ The thought of it nearly made Eddie gag, but if Venom was eating live rats, he usually wasn't eating people or asking to eat Eddie's liver.

**_“Slathered in peanut butter?”_ **

_“I'll make sure the jar is open for you. You've gotta do your own slathering’.”_ Eddie turned to leave ignoring Venom's _**woo hoo**_ , making his way to his motorcycle. He'd been invited to the reception but didn't think it was such a good idea with an already ravenous symbiote and a room full of people.

**_“I could just eat a little one. No one would miss them.”_ **

_“How many times I gotta tell you, you can't eat children no matter how annoying!”_ The bike roared into life under him. Eddie peeled out of the parking lot, not bothering to kiss and cry with the new bride and groom. He wasn't sure he could take it if they both looked at him in pity.

**“ _Eddie?”_**

_“Yeah?”_

_**“I am sorry.”** _

_“I know, buddy. But we'll get over it. Eventually.”_

***

Coming out of the pet store with a small plastic box of rats, Eddie carefully placed them in the saddle bag on his bike.

_**“I could just eat them now.”** _

_“I thought you wanted peanut butter?”_

_**“But I’m hungry.”** _

_“You can wait.”_

_**“I don’t want to.”**_ A tendril of black symbiote snuck into the saddle bag.

Eddie smacked it out of the way. “Cut it out. There is peanut butter and some of that chocolate sauce you like at home. You can binge until your full without freaking out the neighbours.”

 _ **“Fine,”**_ he pouted. _ **“But I want pickles too.”**_

“Whatever you want, buddy.”

**_“And marshmallows?”_ **

“Sure thing.”

**_“And a chunk of Wade Wilson?”_ **

“No!” Eddie huffed. “He’s crazy as a sack full of cats.” He’d just slung his leg over his bike when the scream tore through the evening. “Just when I thought it was going to be a nice night.”

**_“Bad guys?”_ **

“Yeah.” Eddie stepped off the bike and into the alley beside the pet shop as Venom took over. They climbed the wall to the roof of the neighbouring building and leapt across the street, running along the roof to pause and peer down in the alley where the scream had come from.

**“What are they doing?”**

_“Trying to hurt that girl, and doing a shit job of it._ ” Eddie flinched as Venom dug their claws into the brick roof ledge. “ _Ooh! That’s gonna leave a mark._ ” She’d kicked one right in the nads.

 **“She is strong. And feisty.”** Venom’s lips spread in a macabre grin. **“I like her.”** Then he sniffed the air. **“She smells like honeysuckle.”**

_“How the hell do you know what honeysuckle smells like?”_

**“What you know, I know. We know it together.”**

_“But you’ve never actually smelled it, so are you sure that’s what it smells like?”_

**“Stop being an asshole. She smells like honeysuckle… and strawberries. And she hits harder than you.”** But she wasn’t going to be able to hit the man coming up behind her with the gun.

They stepped off the roof and landed with a crash behind her assailant. He screamed, the man with the gun, and unloaded the clip into their chest.

 **“What a waste of bullets.”** Venom grabbed the bad man by the shoulders and bit his head off. It popped and made a satisfying crunch.

 _“Guess you won’t need those rats after all,”_ Eddie chuckled.

 _ **“Dessert.”**_ Opening his giant maw, Venom swallowed the bad man whole.

“Oh, my god…” the woman whispered, staring at them in terror. “What… what are you?”

 **“We are Venom. We won’t hurt you, but they are another story.”** He reached past her with a tentacle of his body, wrapped it around the man’s neck, and wrenched until it gave a satisfying crack.

“I was doing fine before you showed up! I can handle this!”

 **“The one we ate would have shot you.”** Three more tendrils whipped out and slammed the retreating men into the walls where they slumped unmoving to the ground.

“Who the hell is we?” she asked, tossing her dark hair over her shoulder.

Venom cocked his head. **“Why do you not fear us?”**

“I’ve seen worse.” She lifted her chin.

Venom grabbed her by the shoulders and pinned her high up the wall, so they were face to face. **“You lie. You should thank us for saving you. It is polite.”**

“I can save myself,” she growled and kicked him in the teeth.

Venom roared in her face. **“We have eaten people for less!”**

_“Venom! She’s scared! Cut her a break.”_

**“She does not appear frightened.”**

“I’m not scared of you!” she barked, but her scent betrayed her.

The sickly sweet smell of fear mixed with her sweat and the aroma of honeysuckle and strawberries.

Venom slicked his tongue over her cheek. **“Why fear us?”**

“Ugh, maybe because you’re like nine feet tall, you have teeth like daggers, and you bit the head of that guy before you ate him!”

Venom let her go, stepped back, and crouched down. **_“Eddie? We like her. How do we make her like us?”_**

 _“Let me out so I can talk to her.”_ Eddie watched her eyes widen as the black shell that was Venom disappeared, absorbing back inside him, and held up his hands when she shifted away from him. “Hey, easy! I’m not going to hurt you. I’m Eddie, and you’ve already met Venom.”

“What… what the hell are you?” she whispered, taking a sliding step to the right.

“I’m human. He’s a symbiote. Together we’re,” Eddie struggled for a moment before settling with, “different.”

_**“That was articulate.”** _

_“Bite me!”_

_**“Then I would need a new host.”** _

“How… why… when… what?” she squeaked, sliding slowly to the ground of the dank alleyway.

“It’s a long story.” When the siren screamed a few blocks away, Eddie held out his hand. “One I can’t get into right now unless you want to talk to the cops?”

“Not particularly,” she grumbled, eyeing his hand. “He gonna eat me?”

“Are you a bad guy?” Eddie asked.

She scoffed a snort. “No.”

“Then you’re fine. Venom only eats bad people.”

She ignored his hand and pushed to her feet on her own. “You sure he can tell the difference?”

“I can tell the difference. We’re a team. And he likes you. Give us a chance?” Eddie continued to hold out his hand. “C’mon. We need to get out of here without bein’ seen.”

Hesitantly she took the offer. “How do you purpose we do that?”

Eddie gripped her cold hand tightly and drew her a step closer. “Venom.” The symbiote overtook him.

 **“We will not hurt you.”** His assurance didn't seem to make a difference when the spike of her pheromones assaulted their nose again, but he ignored it, swept her off her feet, and climbed the side of the building before she could protest. **“We must jump.”**

“What?” she shrieked, but it was too late as Venom leapt between the buildings and dropped to the ground.

They gently set her down, and Eddie returned. “C’mon. We can talk at my place.”

“Look, buddy, if you think I’m going anywhere with you…” Her voice trailed off as her eyes rolled back in her head.

Both Eddie and Venom reached for her at the same time, catching her before she hit the ground. Blood warmed Eddie’s hand when he pulled it away. “Well, shit.”

_**“We take her home?”** _

_“We do now. You’re gonna have to make sure she doesn’t fall off the bike.”_

_**“Hurry. Police come.**_ ”

Eddie rushed out to his bike, slung his leg over and had it started by the time Venom had the woman whose name he still didn’t know snuggled up against his back like she belonged there.

_**“You like her too.”** _

_“Maybe.”_  More he was intrigued by her, taking on five guys without concern for herself. The sirens grew closer as they pulled away from the curb, but Eddie ignored them. She really did smell like honeysuckle and strawberries.

_**“Told you so.”** _

_“You know, no one likes a know it all.”_


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chapter Warnings: Language. Italics indicate mental conversations. Bold is clearly Venom.

## Chapter Two

* * *

The scent woke her first, tickling her senses enough to see Cassidy rousing from the weird dream of a black slicked body, the substance moving like oil in a strangely beautiful way over the man it was part of. _Bacon_. She smiled to herself, wondering if her dad was cooking breakfast when the reality of her life came crashing down on her.

Her parents were dead. Her sister and brother were both dead. The pillow beneath her head wasn't her own, and she had no idea where she was.

**“Eddie, she wakes.”**

The voice brought terror screaming through her veins, and Cassidy sat up with a jolt that made her grunt, wince, and grab for her side only to notice the clothes she wore weren't hers.

“Hey. Morning.”

Cassidy looked up to find the man from last night standing in the doorway. He hunched a little, as if waiting for a blow or reprimand, and fiddled with his fingers.

“I, uh, we had to change your clothes. You bled right through your shirt and pants. There's a bullet wound in your side, more a nick really, glancing blow, but the one in your hip looked like shrapnel from a ricochet. Venom says he got it all out and did what he could to fix it, but you're not compatible so he couldn't heal you all the way.”

She blinked, unable to fully comprehend someone who talked that fast.

**“Breakfast.”**

“Right! There's breakfast. Toast. Eggs. Tattered tots. Bacon. Wasn't sure what you'd want.”

“Where the hell am I?” Cassidy asked, and who the hell else was talking?

“Our place,” he said. “I'm Eddie, remember? And you met Venom last night.”

“Nine feet tall. Back as spilled ink. Shiny white teeth?”

“That would be him. Us,” he nodded. “I never did catch your name.”

“Vicky.” She grabbed for a name off the top of her head.

“Nice to meet you, Vicky. Funny thing about that is,” he held out his hand, and a black tendril of goo snuck around his shoulder to place her wallet in his hand. “Your driver’s license says, Cassidy Granger. Iowa, huh? Who the hell did you piss off to wind up with a middle name like Bertha?”

“You went through my stuff!”

“Wow, lady!” Eddie held up his hands. “Chill out! We just wanted to make sure you didn’t have some medical condition we needed to worry about. You passed out, and we helped.”

Cassidy sat back and pulled the blankets up around her chin. “You’re right. I’m sorry. This is all… really weird.”

Eddie lowered his hands and stepped cautiously in the door. He moved closer, finally taking a seat on the foot of what must have been his bed. The room was too lived in to be a guest room. “Can you tell me what those guys last night wanted with you?”

She shrugged and looked away. “Don’t know. Muggers maybe.”

**“She lies.”**

Cassidy’s head snapped up, and she stared at the head floating to the left of Eddie’s. “Holy shit…”

“Venom can tell when your lying. Something about pheromones. So you wanna try that again?”

Unable to look away from the floating black head with the same teeth and eyes as the creature from last night, Cassidy mumbled, “How… how are you doing that?”

“He’s a parasite.”

**“I am not a parasite! I am a symbiote. He is my host. Together, we are Venom.”**

“I… I thought… you were Venom?” Cassidy asked.

“It’s complicated,” Eddie muttered. “Long story short, he’s from outer space, can’t survive on this world without a human host. We got together a while ago and, well, kind of ended up saving the planet. I’m Eddie Brock-”

“The reporter?” Cassidy squeaked.

“Yeah.” Eddie nodded. “And he’s Venom. But when bad stuff goes down, what you saw last night happens, and then we become Venom.” He shrugged when she only continued to stare at him. “It’s a thinker, but that’s us… in-in a nutshell.”

“Do people… know about this?” Cassidy waggled her fingers at the two of them.

“Not a lot, no. But some. My ex, she knew, but there was this explosion and Venom almost died, and since then we just… didn’t tell her he… didn’t.”

For someone who was a reporter, he wasn’t overly articulate or sure of himself. From his hand, a tendril of the black ooze she now knew was Venom wormed its way across the bed and up to her knee where it became a long-fingered hand held out as if to shake.

“He likes you. Which is saying something as Venom doesn’t like many people.”

She glanced at Eddie, then slowly lowered the blanket and tentatively took the offered hand. “Um… hi?”

**“You smell good. We won’t eat you.”** The white teeth spread into a macabre smile. 

Eddie stiffened and shot the floating head a hard look. “What the hell, man?”

Cassidy blinked, trying not to shiver at the feel of warm goo caressing her flesh. “What? He didn’t say anything.”

“Not out loud,” Eddie muttered, pink dusting his cheeks.

“You two… talk telepathically?” Her life just kept getting weirder, and the goo was still holding her hand.

“Yeah. Sort of. He’s kind of just in there all the time,” Eddie murmured, wrapping his knuckles against his temple. “Least I’m never lonely.”

It was a telling statement and made Cassidy’s heart ache a little for him, even though she knew nothing about him. Well, other than the explosive reporting he often got into on TV. “So… breakfast?” she asked.

“Sure!” Eddie hopped up with a grin.

Venom tugged on her hand. **“Tater tots are my favourite.”**

Okay, how was a black slime, goo monster, creature, parasite, thing suddenly as adorable as a puppy?

“Um… pants?”

“Right! Sorry.” Eddie rushed over to a dresser and tugged open the second drawer. “I put your shirt and jeans in the wash, and, um, we tried our best not to, you know, ogle you or anything when we changed your shirt and stuff. It’s just you were really bleeding and-”

“Eddie,” she held up her hand and offered him a smile as Venom finally detached from her fingers. “I get it. And I appreciate you not, like, letting me die and all in that alleyway. Just let me put some clothes on, and we can talk over breakfast.”

“Sure, sure.” He tossed a pair of sweats on the bed and headed out of the room, Venom trailing behind. The last tendril of darkness swung the door shut behind them.

Cassidy breathed a sigh of relief and threw back the covers, forgetting for a moment about the wound in her side. He’d left her in her underwear, so she was ninety percent certain there hadn't been any funny business, plus he seemed… shy.

A nice guy, clearly, but Cassidy couldn’t afford to let any more people into her life. Not when they all kept dying because of her.

Dragging the sweats on, she looked frantically around and found her wallet lying on the top of the dresser out of which he’d taken the pants. Her jacket was missing, but the closet was hanging open and had a hoodie she carefully took down to keep the hanger from jangling. Zipping it up, she stuffed her wallet in the pocket. By the door were her shoes, likely where Eddie had tossed them when they’d brought her home and cleaned her up.

Cassidy stuffed her feet into them and headed for the window. The fire escape was right there. All she had to do was use it.

The window stuck, squeaked a little, and finally slid all the way up. Luckily, the noise didn’t seem to register with the occupants of the other room, and she threw her leg over the windowsill.

A scream ripped from her throat when the black as night body landed on the railing in front of her.

**“You can’t leave without breakfast.”**

She went over backward into the room and landed on the floor in a heap, sending pain tearing through her hip and side. Cassidy hissed then swore in three languages.

**“Impressive. We only know a few of those words.”**

Cassidy blinked at him, it, them as they crawled through the window after her, all sinuous limbs and flexing muscle, giant claws and needle-sharp teeth. “Please. If you know what’s good for you, you’ll let me go.”

**“We don’t want to.”** Venom crouched over her, his hands on either side of her hips. **“You bleed.”**

Those wickedly dangerous looking claws touched her with deceptive gentleness and pulled back to show the red on them he brought closer to his face.

**“Honeysuckle…”** Long and red, his tongue slid over and wrapped around his fingers. **“Sweet like strawberries.”**

“Just let me go,” Cassidy whispered. “You need to let me leave before…”

**“Before what?”** He crouched lower, hovering over her. Those strange white eyes narrowed as he sniffed her again. Then his tongue was slicking over her throat and along her jaw. **“You are afraid. Of us?”**

He sounded so unhappy, Cassidy shook her head and scrabbled around until she found his thick fingers. She clutched two of them tightly, willing him to believe her. “No. Not you. But I get people killed. I need to go before they find out about you, or they'll come for you too.”

Venom’s face drew closer; his eyes narrowed in anger. **“Who hunts you? We will eat them.”**

She gave a startled bark of laughter. “I only wish you could.”

Then Venom was gone, and it was Eddie who hovered over her. “We can help you. It’s kind of what we do. You’ll be safe here with us.”

“No,” she slowly shook her head, “I won’t. And all that will happen is they’ll kill you, or try to take you too.”

“We’re tough to kill, and no one takes us anywhere. Being a lab rat doesn’t appeal to Venom. Or me.” He grinned, and it was boyish, sweet, and so very charming, she wondered what had happened to the shy man of earlier. “Come on. You can eat and tell us what this is all about while I bandage you up again.”

He sat back on his knees and rocked up to his toes, then reached down and picked her up like she weighed nothing.

“What… uh, what happened to your friend?”

“He’s a bit annoyed with you at the moment. He’ll come back when he’s through pouting.” Eddie cocked his head. “Yes, you are pouting. No, I won’t take it back. Stop acting like a child!”

Cassidy stared at him with her mouth slightly open, utterly fascinated.

“Sorry,” Eddie blushed. “It’s like listening to someone on the phone. Back before I figured out how to talk to him up here,” he pointed to his head, “I used to wear a Bluetooth so that people would stop staring at me like I was fucking nuts.”

“I can see how that could be a problem,” Cassidy murmured, following Eddie into the kitchen. Well, technically the rest of his apartment. “You know… I figured you’d live better. You do all that crazy reporting. I thought you’d get paid well. Danger pay and all that.”

“Sometimes," he shrugged, "but I like this place. And the neighbours know me, and they know about Venom. The gangs were harassing a few of the local businesses. You know, for protection money and the like. We took care of the problem. Now the neighbourhood is safe, prospering, and any new gang trying to move in gets to meet Venom.” He grinned over his shoulder at her. “They don’t stick around long.”

“And no one talks about you, him, the whole thing?” she asked, sliding onto the chair he held out at the little Arborite table that looked like it belonged in the seventies.

“Why would they? We protect them without asking for anything. In turn, they keep our secret. Mrs. Chen, she runs the bodega down the block, we kind of… ate the guy who used to come in and harass her at gunpoint for his weekly “protection money”. I told her I had a parasite, and ever since she makes us chicken noodle soup. “For your friend,” she says. I haven’t the heart to tell her he’d rather eat live chickens.” Eddie shook his head sadly; eyes lost to the memory before he shook himself free. “So I eat it for him.”

“Live… live chickens?” Cassidy whimpered.

“Hey, hey! It’s okay. It’s just he needs things like livers, brains, organs and such to sustain him. Without it, he’d have to consume mine, and I’d rather not go through that,” Eddie turned toward the stove and muttered softly, “Again.”

“Christ,” Cassidy groaned and thunked her head on the table. “When did I fall down the fucking rabbit hole?”

Eddie snickered, and a deeper chuckle rolled out with it.

“Don’t laugh at me, asshole! You’ve had time to get used to this! I can barely wrap my brain around my own problems let alone the whole shit ton of ass fuckery this is!”

Eddie returned with a plate piled with toast, scrambled eggs, bacon, and tater tots, and set it in front of her.

“Ketchup?” he asked.

“Yeah,” Cassidy sighed. “Is it in the fridge?”

“Where else would it be?”

Eddie scoffed and turned to get it, but Cassidy grabbed his wrist. “You wanted to know why those men were after me?” He frowned but nodded. “It’s because of this.”

Cassidy turned toward the fridge and released his wrist to hold her hand out. “ _Dispareo_.” It vanished from existence, leaving everything within sitting on invisible shelves. Concentrating on the ketchup bottle, she crooked her fingers. “ _Ad me_.” It zipped across the room and landed in her hand. She set it on the table and flicked her fingers at the fridge. “ _Se sisto_.” It returned in all it’s dirty, dingy, magnet covered glory.

“Holy… fuck,” Eddie breathed.

She picked up a tater tot and popped it in her mouth, then looked up at Eddie and the floating head of Venom and smiled. “That’s right, Harry. I am a wizard.” _ **  
**_


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter Warnings: Language, angst, sweet Eddie and Venom. Italics indicate mental conversations. Bold is clearly Venom.

* * *

Eddie's legs went out from under him. Thankfully,  Venom caught him in a symbiote created chair before he fell too far, but he could only stare at his ugly fridge in dumbfounded wonder.

**_“Say something.”_ **

_“Like what? Did you see that? Holy fuck!”_

**_“She smells even more like honeysuckle now. It is the scent of her magic.”_ **

_“Yeah. Intoxicating. And hey! What the fuck was with that comment earlier? Unless she wanted us to. What the hell, V?”_

**_“There is something about her. Something… alluring. The taste of her skin is addictive.”_ **

The flavour flooded Eddie's mouth and made it water. _“Cut it out!”_

**_“I want to lick her all over.”_ **

_“I swear if you don't stop…”_

**_“You just keep lying to yourself.”_ **

_“These are not appropriate pants to pop a woody in, dammit!”_ Sweatpants would do nothing to hide the evidence.

There was a pause before Venom sighed. **_“Sorry. But you should say something. She's getting uncomfortable.”_ **Venom dropped him to the floor with a thud.

“ _Dammit, V!”_ Dark laughter rumbled through his head. Ignoring him, Eddie climbed gracelessly back to his feet and tucked his hands in his pockets before a wry smile pulled at his lips. “Nice Harry Potter reference.”

Cassidy shrugged while playing with her fork. “It became a bit of a running joke. Granger. Hermione. The guys used to give me the gears about it.”

He went to fill a plate for himself and another of tater tots for Venom before taking the seat across from her at his rough looking kitchen table. “So… you always been able to abraca-poof or…?”

Amusement had her lip curling up. “Abraca-poof.”

“Would you prefer “make with the magic fingers?’”

She snorted a laugh. “Think I'll stick with abraca-poof. And no, I couldn't always do that.” She gave a soft sigh and picked at her food.

**“Eat.”**

Eddie shot Venom a look. The symbiote was picking his tots off the plate one by one, which for most people wouldn't be weird, but Eddie knew V could clear the entire plate with one swipe of his tongue before demanding seconds. _“Such pretty manners.”_

**_“Bite me!”_ **

_“Then I'd need a new symbiote.”_

Cassidy plucked up a tot, dipped it in ketchup, and popped it in her mouth. “Happy?”

**“Eat more.”**

She rolled her eyes but began to eat in earnest. Venom grinned smugly and returned to his meal.

“We don't exactly hold to the Queen's manners here, Cassidy. You're welcome to talk with your mouth full.”

She glanced up quickly before focusing on her food. “I shouldn't. It's not safe.”

“We discussed this already. We can help, but only if you let us and that means telling us everything.” Eddie sent her a wry grin. “After all, I showed you mine.”

A chuckle escaped her. “Technically so did I.”

“Alright, I _told_ you mine.”

She sat back and stared at the ceiling, her hand pressed to her side. “It all started in Iraq.”

“Iraq?”

She nodded, slowly lowering her gaze from the ceiling. The haunted look in her eyes almost made him sorry he'd asked. “Corporal Cassidy Granger, discharged, at your service.”

**_“No wonder she fights better than you.”_ **

_“Shut it!”_

“I was recruited at eighteen because I have an uncanny ability with languages. They promised me a UN gig once my tour was up. My dad had been army. My grandad. It was a no brainer to enlist.” She pushed from the chair and paced; a caged animal. “Things went as they always do in war. I was trained to be a soldier, elite team because they wanted me available to translate when necessary. Then… the mission's changed. We weren't hunting targets anymore, but cargo.”

“Cargo?”

“Yeah.” She wrapped her arms around herself. “Weird things. Chemical weapons. Mystical weapons. Crap, none of us, believed were real. Then… then we found this crate. It was full of blue liquid in double glass containers. It moved even when they were still.” A shiver racked her body. “We were on our way back when the attack happened. An IUD took out the front vehicle, and mine slammed into the smoking wreckage. Like a dumbass, Meyers was handling one of the containers, and it smashed. Blue smoke filled the vehicle, and we were choking, but I was pinned in my seat. Johnson and Hillman, I could hear them coughing. They were pinned in the front. When I looked over at Meyers… a bullet tore through the window and…” She pressed a shaking fist to her lips. “We were sitting ducks, sucking in… poison for all I knew, but I wasn't coughing anymore. Just breathing. Just breathing this blue smoke like it was nothing while the two guys in the front seat sounded like they were hacking up a lung. It felt like forever but was probably seconds before Hondo was there, forcing my door open and cutting me out of my seatbelt. Duke was dragging the cargo out the back, but as Michaels and Jones went for Johnson and Hillman, I already knew it was too late.”

“Shit…” Eddie hissed. “I'm so sorry, Cassidy.

“It was war. It happens. We're trained to expect it.”

“Still sucks.”

“Yeah.” She shot him a soft smile. “It does. After they got me out, the two Humvees were hit by an RPG, so it was impossible to tell the blue shit killed Johnson and Hillman. I was going to say something when we got back to base, but… there was this woman. I've met some scary motherfuckers in my day, but that bitch?” She gave a low whistle. “She was bat shit, that one was. Flipped out when she saw the missing canister. Got all crazy-eyed. So I lied. Told her Meyers had been fucking with it before the attack, but it was secured intact in the webbing behind the driver's seat when we crashed and remained there when we exited. It was destroyed when the vehicle was incinerated. 

Hondo knew better. He'd pulled me out. He'd seen the last of the smoke, but she'd put all our backs up by that point. We lost seven good men getting her precious top-secret cargo. We weren't about to give her anything more. After, our team got reworked. We were “rewarded” by being reassigned. It was a kick in the face. Hondo, Duke and me, we managed to stay together, but the others… they were scattered. 

For a while, I didn't even know anything had changed with me, that that blue crap did anything until one night I'm a little drunk, running through languages with the boys, being stupid, when I hit Latin and say, _Volito_ while looking at Duke and he's suddenly three feet off the ground.” She snorted a chuckle. “He screamed like a chick.”

**_“Isn't she a chick?”_ **

Eddie shushed him.

“We were all so stunned. It didn't make sense, but Hondo, he put it together. That blue shit. We kept it to ourselves, and I worked on it in secret, figuring out it only works with Latin. There's not much I can't do if I put my mind to it. 

Then there was an incident — sniper in a building. We'd already taken two hits; I wasn't about to take two more. I'm not a great shot, but I'm qualified, so I grabbed Smitty's rifle, put up a shield, got set and took the shot. The only problem was the sniper pinged two rounds off my shield in the process. I should have been dead. When my Master Sergeant demanded an explanation, he got one. They all did. They were my team and deserved to know. Disbelief came first, but then they accepted it and me. I went in with guns but rarely used them. We had a success rate higher than most SEAL teams. People started to wonder how that was possible.

Then the news came to me. Michaels and Jones… they were dead. Brutally murdered while on leave. It was… horrifying. I was given consent, as were Duke and Hondo to come home for the funeral. It was tough. Tough to bury two of our own. Tougher still to look in the faces of their wives and kids and know it was such a blow. They died here, at home, after surviving so many missions.

We went back, but it was like there was a pall over everything. And when the new guy came on the team... it went to hell. We didn't know him or trust him. He wasn't one of us, so my abilities had to be kept in check. The Sergeant did everything humanly possible to keep him away from me, and it worked for a while, but then Pierce was all up in my private time. “Why didn't I like him? Why wouldn't I work with him? Why wouldn't I give him a chance?” It became clear it would have to happen no matter how the other guys felt. I was their 'little sis' by that point. Their good luck charm. But the brass wanted to know why our team was so good.”

“Let me guess? The mission tanked?” She sent him such a hard look, Eddie shrank back.

“It didn't tank. It fucking exploded. Hondo and Duke were with Pierce and me, and we'd split off to clear 'round back of this compound when shots start going off everywhere. We took cover, but I turned in time to watch Pierce pull a completely different handgun from beneath his vest and unload two rounds in Hondo's head. Two more went in Duke before I could even take a breath, then he's pointing it at me. “Time to tie up loose ends. Sylvia sends her regards.” That's what he said to me. "Sylvia sends her regards." Everything was so slow. I could hear the others screaming as they were cut down, killed because of me. I'm not sure if it was instinctive or self-preservation, but I barked a word, and his gun was in my hand, and I unloaded the rest of the clip in him. Then…” Her face became a cold mask. “I went hunting.”

Eddie shivered. Part fear, part arousal. He'd been with Venom too long, had the symbiote in his head too long, not to find the huntress before him exciting.

The long, low purr of approval in his head from his darker partner said he wasn't the only one feeling it. **“Did you kill them?”**

She lifted her chin, eyes locked with Venom's. “Every last one. By the time help arrived, I was the only one left, and my teammates were all wrapped and waiting for extraction. All but Pierce. I put his body on the pier with the others and let it burn. When they asked what happened to him… I said Al Quaid took him. They'll never know otherwise.”

Tendrils of the symbiote wicked out and wrapped around Cassidy's waist. More curled lovingly around her wrists. A third gently caressed her face. **“Come. Sit. Eat.”**

She let him encourage her back to the table and sat, but only picked up her coffee. “There's more.”

**“We know. We can smell the sorrow building. It can wait. Eat.”**

She shook her head. “Not yet. Not if you want me to finish.” Venom snarled, but Cassidy snarled back. “Don't get snippy or I'll turn you into a frog!”

Venom pulled back and looked at Eddie. **_“Can she do that?”_ **

_“I dunno.”_ Eddie shrugged. “Go ahead, Cassidy. Finish the story.”

“After the “trauma” of such an event, I was deemed emotionally unfit to continue in the army and was honourably discharged. They sent me home. Home to my mother and father, my sister and brother. Home, where Sylvia Cartwright could find me.” She shoved her mug away.

“It wasn't nearly as hard as it should have been to adjust back into civilian life. I had nightmares, but somehow knowing the people who’d done the killing were also dead helped. The only one who wasn't was her, Sylvia Cartwright. The woman behind it all. As soon as I came home, I showed my parents what I could do. I told them everything. My mother was terrified. She wanted to go to the police, but what good would they be? The bitch took out an entire team overseas, and I found out later, murdered Michaels and Johnson here and got away with it. Cops would only get in the way and get killed.

Dad agreed. Together we began to investigate Sylvia Cartwright and her Botanics Industries quietly. It turns out she's doing a lot more than just creating face creams for the masses. She's got a nice little side business of bioweapons. That blue shit was something of hers. The fact I survived her assassin pissed her off. She didn't want anyone knowing about that lost case. We dug deeper, found offshore accounts, holdings, subsidiaries that have ties to some nasty people, but it wasn't until we broke in to have a look around we figured out how bad it was. It's not just bioweapons.”

She looked at him across the table. “It's people. She's experimenting on people using that blue stuff. Most didn't survive or what they've become was unrecognizable. From what I could tell it's me, just me, who came out with a little-added magic. Dad was furious and terrified. He was so scared they'd figure it out and come after me, he refused to do any more digging. But I couldn't let it go.” Her head dropped like it was too heavy for her neck and she held it up with her hands. “I kept digging and poking, and going back to the facility. Eventually, they found out. Infrared I think. I ran, but they beat me home. Sylvia was there. She demanded I show her what I could do. When I refused…” Tears dripped down her cheeks. “She cut Dad's throat.”

“Fuck!” Eddie exploded from his seat and went to her side where he dropped to his knees and wrapped his arms around her.

“She killed my mom while I was still screaming over Dad. My sister was petrified, my brother was sobbing, and I stopped the knife headed for him with a word. You should have seen the glee on her face. She wanted me to go with them, and I agreed if she just let my brother and sister go. She smiled, saying something about “not being unreasonable” as they put me in chains and led me toward this transport, but right as I was to get inside… she had them shoot both my siblings. “That's for Pierce.” She actually said it. “That's for Pierce.” I… blanked afterward. I remember waking up in a field, bloody and on the run. I've been running ever since.”

“Christ, Cassidy. I’m so sorry.” Eddie pressed his forehead to her thigh. He’d been through so much with Venom, so much in his life, but nothing in it compared to what she’d been through.

She snuffled and wiped her face with the cuff of his hoodie. “I keep getting people killed, Eddie. Everyone who knew, everyone who tried to help me. All of them are dead. You should let me leave before you end up dead or in the lab like all those other poor bastards.”

Eddie lifted his head and looked at her, really looked at her. Terrified and alone, struggling, yet still so fucking strong and so damn beautiful. He rose up and cupped her face, one hand his, one theirs, the black and long claws of Venom. “No. No more. **We won’t let you do this alone.** ”

She stiffened a little, watching the black of his symbiote crawl over his chest and neck. Eddie didn’t stop to think about it when Venom pulled her from the chair into his lap and wrapped the two of them in tendrils of symbiote.

“You’re not alone, Cassidy. **Not anymore.”**

The hard shell of toughness around her cracked, then crumbled as she broke down in sobs on his shoulder. Her arms were tight around his neck, nearly choking, but he didn’t care. She needed someone. Someone strong enough to stand as her shield in this fight. Someone enhanced and capable of protecting her. That’s what they were for after all. They were made to protect.

**_“We will protect.”_ **

_“Yeah,”_ Eddie agreed. _“We will.”_ Nothing and no one was going to hurt Cassidy ever again.

  



	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: Language. Italics indicate mental conversations. Bold is clearly Venom.
> 
> This chapter brought to you through Coffee Updates anonymously. Thanks for your support, anon.

* * *

 

After crying herself out, Eddie helped Cassidy clean up, replaced the bandage over her bullet wound, and forced her to eat. When she finished, drained but looking like she felt better, he and Venom convinced her to go back to bed for a while.

She was safe in their apartment.  No one knew anything about them or where she went last night. She could rest and recover in relative peace.

Eddie had long ago made sure none of the security cameras in the neighbourhood worked anymore, so there would be no way for anyone to see what had happened in that alley. When Mrs. Chen had casually made mention of it, Eddie had shrugged and said it was what he needed to live here. After, he was reasonably sure she'd put out the word that the 'Dark Angel' who protected the neighbourhood requested no cameras. None were ever replaced again.

Cassidy had laughed until she cried, claiming 'Sweet Demon' would be more accurate than 'Dark Angel' before reaching out to lightly tickle Venom's floating chin.

If a symbiote could have swung it, Venom would have had heart eyes, melting like a happy puppy in Cassidy's palm.

Once they managed to shoo her back to bed, and Venom was through playing Mother Hen, Eddie had cracked his laptop to do a little recon of his own, tucking a pair of earbuds in so he could drown out the inner monologue of Venom who had taken it upon himself to clean the kitchen.

The symbiote was domestic like that which had initially been weird, but now it was nice to have someone who wanted to clean up. Eddie wasn’t exactly the neatest host.

**_“No, you’re not_ ** **.”**

Eddie rolled his eyes and turned the music up a little more before diving into Sylvia Cartwright and Botanics Industries.

The picture showed a woman in a royal blue suit, her dark hair swept up and back, off her face, smiling at the camera, her arms crossed in a power pose. The man beside her was shorter, his skin tone darker and rugged, worn from hours spent outside in the sun.

Sylvia Cartwright, a doctor of dermatology with 15 years of experience, was the owner and CEO of several dermatology clinics located in cities all over the United States. Her partner Aaron Flores, who had been working with organic nutrition and cosmeceutical products since 1995 spending much of his life traversing the wilds of the Amazon, discovering new and interesting plants, had revolutionized Cartwright’s business.

The combination of the deep knowledge bases of the two about natural products and the human body resulted in the development of a line of cosmeceutical products and nutritional supplements, designed to offer products of the highest quality, made of the finest ingredients from nature, for the boutique market.

Nowhere on the website did it mention human test subjects and blue goo, but Eddie was never that lucky.

The plant Cartwright and Flores claimed to work miracles had been discovered deep in the rainforest, far from civilization, in an area of great danger that hadn’t allowed Flores to return to, nor had any other expeditions which had set out ever come back. However, Flores had harvested an entire plant to bring home for further study, and they were able to recreate the environment and grow their own.

There was talk of gene manipulation and cloning to create a healthy, sustainable crop of plants, and explained why the supply of Botanics Industry products were both so expensive and so difficult to obtain.

He turned to the reviews left both on Botanics Industry’s website and that of others. They were all glowing, expressing peoples amazement on how incredible the products were. Of course, with a corporation that big, it would be easy enough to flood the mark with false reviews and set Eddie digging deeper.

He dove into his contacts on the dark web, seeking any information regarding Botanics Industries and what they were up to. Knowing it could take a while, he pushed his chair back and stretched his arms over his head before turning around to find Cassidy sitting on his couch having tea, Venom hovering to the side, looking ridiculously pleased.

Eddie popped out an earbud.

“It’s really good. I would never have guessed you haven’t made tea before,” she said, smiling at Venom.

**“Eddie has. I learned from Eddie.”**

“You’ve never made me tea,” Eddie grumbled.

**“Cassidy is injured. You can make your own.”**

Eddie chuckled and went to pour another cup of hot water, finding the kettle still warm. “Are you feeling better?”

She nodded though she didn't look up. “Yeah. Thank you for earlier. I never had a chance to grieve for my family before or tell anyone the truth.”

“I figured.” Eddie added a peppermint tea bag to the water.

“I’m a person of interest in their deaths,” she whispered, staring into her cup. “I didn’t even get to see them buried.”

He crossed the room and sat beside her, where he gently squeezed her hand. “You will. Soon as we get this sorted out, you’ll get to go home.” The thought made him sad.

“Home to what? There’s nothing left?” She blinked big chocolate brown eyes at him.

“Then start over,” Eddie said at the same time Venom muttered, **“Stay here.”**

She smiled at the symbiote who seemed inclined to stay connected to her in some way. "That's nice, V, but I'm sure you and Eddie would like your house back at some point."

Cassidy looked at him for confirmation, but Eddie only shrugged. "If he's talking to you, he's not rambling in my head."

**"Hey!"**

"Well, it's true! That's the most continuous research I've done in months!" he grinned at Cassidy. "Usually I get some random question like, " **Eddie, what do dogs taste like**?" while I'm in the middle of something important."

Cassidy chuckled and ran her fingers under Venom's chin again, soothing the symbiote frowning at him. "He's just curious. How long has he been here?"

"About three months," Eddie smile, knowing Venom knew he was teasing. "It's been good for the most part, right, Buddy?"

**"Eddie is much less sad with you here."**

"Why was Eddie sad?" Cassidy asked as Eddie growled, "V, don't. "

**"Annie left,"** he said, looking pitiful and melty.

_"Traitor."_ White teeth flashed when Cassidy wasn't looking. "Annie is my ex. She got married yesterday.”

“Oh. I’m sorry.”

Eddie shrugged. “Dan’s good people.”

"Still, I know what it's like," she sighed. "My boyfriend decided he couldn't handle me enlisting and tapped out when I went into basic. After my first tour, I came home to find he'd married one of my girlfriends. I was happy for them, but it still sucked."

"Yeah, it does," Eddie agreed.

**"We would never choose another over you,"** Venom said, laying his floating head on her shoulder.

_"Christ, V. Can you be any more obvious?"_

**_"You are making her sadder."_ **

_"You brought it up!"_

**_"Fix it."_ **

Eddie forcibly contained the desire to throw up his arms.

"That's sweet, V," Cassidy said. Her comfort level with the symbiote had gone up dramatically.

"Did I miss something here?" Eddie asked, motioning between the two of them.

Cassidy chuckled and shook her head. "No, it's just pretty clear you're good guys. I've seen a lot of strange things, this is up there for the title of strangest, but I feel… safe for the first time in a long time. How long it will last?" She shrugged. "But I'm not scared of you, Eddie. Of either of you. Even with all those teeth."

She smiled, and Eddie's breath caught. Annie would always be his first love and beautiful to him, but Cassidy was next level gorgeous. Even tired and a little malnourished, she was simply stunning.

**_"Honeysuckle…"_**   Venom sighed like a period novel heroine.

Then someone knocked on the door. All three of them froze.

"You expecting anyone?" Cassidy whispered.

Eddie shook his head. _"V, get her in the bedroom."_ Tendrils of symbiote wrapped around her as Eddie placed his finger on his lips. She was lifted and floated across the room where she swung the door partially shut, keeping watch against the wall.

Only then did Eddie cross the room, Venom crawling over him like black body armour. "Yeah?" he called out.

"Eddie? It's Annie."

Instantly the tension went out of the room. "Annie? Shouldn't you be on your honeymoon?" he asked as Venom receded so he could open the door.

She stood there with Tupperware in hand, a stack five containers deep. "We leave tomorrow. You didn't come to the reception. I wanted to make sure you got to eat."

He stood in the doorway. "Annie now's not a good time."

"Why not?" She pushed past him into the room, heading for his ratty table. "You got a girl in here or something?"

He winced at her tone. "You make it sound impossible."

"Not impossible," she hedged, "just unlikely-"

"Eddie, baby?"

_"Oh, crap,"_ he whispered to Venom. Cassidy's voice was so profoundly seductive, so completely bedroom, the problem he'd had hours earlier in the pants department returned with a vengeance.

**_"Got you covered."_ **

Eddie grunted when symbiote wrapped down snuggly around his waist. _"Thanks."_ Then he made the mistake of looking at Cassidy.

Auburn hair fell in messy waves around her shoulders. Dark, slumberous eyes peeked at him from behind long, smoky lashes. Her clothes were missing as she stood there with nothing but the sheet from his bed wrapped around her breasts, the very bare flesh swelling overtop of the fabric barely containing them.

She bit her lip, pink forming in her cheeks when she looked at Annie staring in disbelief. "Sorry, I woke up and heard voices."

_"Sweet fucking dumplings,"_   he groaned.

**_"Ours,"_ **  Venom rumbled in a way that did nothing to help the boner Eddie was fighting.

A Venom induced lurch had him heading for Cassidy. "I was doing some work, didn't want to wake you, then Annie showed up."

"Oh, this is Annie!" Cassidy smiled. "The one who got married yesterday?"

"Right, yes." He had no idea what she was doing but played along. "Annie, this is Cassidy. My… friend."

"Eddie, you're cute," Cassidy chuckled. "He means girlfriend."

"Girlfriend?" Annie parroted, then shook herself and smiled. "Eddie! You could have brought her yesterday!"

"I got into town late last night, or I would have come. Just let me throw on some clothes, and we can get to know one another."

"Or you could stay like that," Eddie murmured. "It's a good look."

Cassidy smirked at him. "I think you looked your fill last night, mister."

"Okay!" Annie cried. "I'm just, I think I'm going to go now. Sorry to interrupt." She almost ran for the door.

"You don't have to rush off," Cassidy offered.

"Just dropping off food. I know how Eddie eats, used to eat, does eat. Anyway, I'm happy for you both. Bye!" The door slammed behind her.

"Wow," Cassidy muttered and dropped the sheet. "She's… interesting."

Eddie inhaled sharply then sighed in disappointment. The wife beater tank top they’d put her in was tucked into the top of her bra while the straps hung down her sides. She even had her sweat pants on still, pulled up to the knees to be hidden beneath the sheet.

**_"Rats."_ **

_"Double rats,"_   Eddie agreed. "Uh, what was that?"

"I didn't like how she implied you'd be sitting here pining away for her. She seems nice, but she also babies you. She's married. Shouldn't she be with her new husband sucking face, not bringing leftovers to her ex?"

He winced. “I was a bit of a mess when she left. Some bad shit went down, and I was pretty fucked up. It was her and I when Venom showed up; then Dan got mixed in. We’re close, I guess. Maybe it’s weird. Yeah, it’s weird. I guess she does treat me like a surrogate kid,” he mumbled, thinking of all the times they’d had him over for dinner then sent him home with leftovers, or invited him to the movies when really they’d been on a date. “Fuck I’m pathetic.” Eddie turned away.

Cassidy grabbed his hand. “You’re not pathetic, Eddie. People aren’t supposed to remain best friends with someone they loved that much. It’s too painful when the other person moves on. You're happy for them, but at the same time sad that they’ve left you behind. We need the sad to make way for the happy. Annie needs to move on with Dan. That doesn’t mean you can’t be friends, just not the kind you were before.”

He stared at her for a minute before a small smile curled his lips. “You’re pretty smart for a jarhead.”

“Goes to show what you know. I wasn’t a jarhead,” she smirked. Then she squeezed his fingers. “If I overstepped, I apologize. You’ve done me a kindness. I just wanted to do the same. Show her you’re okay without her.”

“It was surprising, but that was a good look,” Eddie snickered.

She rolled her eyes. “Charming. So I look good naked. Like I don’t already know that.” Cassidy released his hand to head for the table. “Ooh! There’s cake! I’m not sharing.”

A tendril of symbiote snaked past her and snatched the container up. **“Mine.”**

“Ours,” Eddie corrected.

Cassidy smiled and held out her hand. _“Ad me.”_   The carton flew across the room and landed in her palm.

“Dammit! I forgot about that,” Eddie grumbled as she laughed at them both.

She popped the lid off the carton. “It’s a big piece. What’s say we share?”

**“But I called dibs,”** Venom whined.

More whispered words of Latin saw the piece of cake levitating, then splitting into three sections. “Well, you can share, or you can have none,” Cassidy said in such a mom voice it made Eddie chuckle.

When she pinned him with a glare, he held up his hands. “Hey, I’m all for sharing.”

Venom grumbled, but gave in, fascinated by the magic happening in their kitchen as plates flew from cupboards to the table, followed by utensils, and the cake.

Once they were all seated, breaking into the other cartons and groaning at the fantastic food, Cassidy asked, “Did you find what you were looking for?”

She shot a glance at his laptop, but Eddie only shrugged. “A lot of bullshit and the typical “Ra Ra. Look how hard I worked to get my company off the ground,” crap. The plant her partner found in the rainforest sounds like it could be a lead. There are no pictures of it anywhere, and the way they talk about gene modifying makes my skin crawl.”

“I’ve seen it,” Cassidy murmured. “It’s unique looking. Big broad leaves and orange flowers. They keep it in this massive glass room in the center of the compound. There was a guy in there one day when I was walking around. He had on full hazmat gear.”

“Never a good sign.”

“Right?” she nodded, helping herself to the pasta salad. “I didn’t go in there. I’ve been exposed to enough weird shit. Who knows what would happen if I got hit again?”

“Hm.” Neither he or Venom liked that idea. “Well, I think I know what my next project for work will be.” She glanced up, forehead creased as she frowned. “An interview with Sylvia and her partner about this “miracle” plant of theirs.”

“I don’t like the idea of you going in there, Eddie.”

**“We will be fine. They cannot hurt us.”**

Eddie rolled his eyes. “This is the kind of thing I do. Find a story, sniff it out. I’m waiting to hear back from a few contacts to see what the underbelly of society has to say about Cartwright and her miracle products.”

“And then what? You’re just going to march in there without backup and ask her for her history of heinous things?” Cassidy snorted and shook her head.

“No, I’m going to conduct an interview, like I always do, and ask leading questions that will get me access into the interior of the building. She won’t do anything at the time. I’ll make sure the office books the appointment, and take a cameraman like always. I’ll be fine,” he shrugged.

**“And if things go sideways, he has me.”**

“Damn straight.” The two of them exchanged a fist bump.

“I think you’re insane but sure. Walk into the lion’s den like a dumbass.” She shoved back from the table and lurched to her feet.

Eddie caught her within two strides and barely avoided the fist to his chin thanks to Venom dragging him backward. “Whoa, slugger. Let’s talk this out.”

“She _kills_ people, Eddie! Kills them without thought or care. I can’t handle having one more name on my head. One more person’s blood spilled because of me!”

“Cassidy.” He took her by the shoulders and held her still. “Nothing is going to happen. It’s just a scouting trip. An interview with mundane questions. This is what I do. I can handle it. Nothing is going to happen to me.”

Her body collided with his, arms wrapping tight around his waist. “Please be careful. Please.”

“I’m always careful,” he assured her.

Thankfully, Venom’s amused snort was only inside his head.

  



End file.
